“We want to take charge”

Adi Hütter on...

…a possible dip in form: “Basically I’m not worried about us losing our form. You never know in advance how any match is going to turn out, but if we play the way we have been recently, I’m confident that we’ll pick up another win in Cologne. We’ve been looking good in training again. We heading to Cologne brimming with confidence – then we’ll have to justify that confidence once we’re out on the pitch.”

…Evan Ndicka and Filip Kostic: “Evan is back to full strength and physically he’s in top form. Whether he plays or not will be a last-minute decision. Filip is an incredibly good athlete who always listens to his body. We hope that he’ll be available again sooner rather than later.”

…Sunday’s match and opponents: “It’s crucial for us to pick up where we left off before the international break, but that’s easier said than done. The opposition are licking their wounds at the moment, but you should always beware a wounded opponent, so we’re going to have to maintain our focus. We want to take charge of the game and control proceedings. I assume Köln will try something [different]. They’ve also brought in new players and will definitely make changes."

…new signings Hrustic and Younes: “Amin Younes and Ajdin Hrustic are very eager to learn our style of play as quickly as possible, and what they have to do when we lose the ball. They’re highly intelligent players and provide creative options out on the pitch.”

…the season so far: “If we maintain our unbeaten run, it’d be a superb start. A win against Köln would mean we’d travel to Munich with our unbeaten record intact, which would be ideal. We can’t guarantee that, though. The season is still young and we need to play to our full potential in every game.”